Washington Times' Hurt: Boehner Is Steering a Good Course

House Speaker John Boehner has accumulated enemies — particularly among tea party activists — but Washington Times columnist Charles Hurt is an admirer.

"I'm not one of these people who thinks that Boehner is the worst person on the planet. People forget that under Boehner and under this Republican rule, the minority has rights it never had before in modern times," Hurt told "The Steve Malzberg Show" on Newsmax TV.

"He allows [in] both the minority Democrats and his detractors who are tea party people, he gives them a lot of leeway. He lets them vote, and while you could argue that's a small thing, if you believe in the government, it's not a small thing.

"It's a very important thing, because all of his predecessors, especially Nancy Pelosi, people would have broken knees if they did to her what he allows them to do," Hurt said Wednesday.

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Hurt said that while tea party activists are now tearing into Boehner for not following their agenda, "I would always defend him."

"Obviously, the tea party doesn't like him because he's not a hard-enough conservative, and I wish he were more conservative," Hurt said.

"But if I had to choose between a conservative who put people in thumb locks, this is a better expression of what the Founders intended."